What’s the best creative business CRM? Comparing features of 17hats, Dubsado, Sprout Studio, Bloom, Plutio, SuiteDash, and Iris Works
Please note this article is work in progress, being written December 2020 & January 2021. As I’m trying and testing, I’m adding notes here - the main reason I published it is so others who are also looking for a CRM, can follow my journey, and ask questions along the way… I’m happy to answer them and try more things as I’m still testing!
What you’ll find in this article:
The backstory and how I ended up looking for a CRM
The features I’m looking for in a CRM
The 7 tools I’m testing: Dubsado, 17hats, Sprout Studio, Bloom, Plutio, SuiteDash, and Iris Works - and why these (and not Honeybooks or Bitrix24).
Detailed comparison per feature
Pros and Cons of the 7 tools
Let’s start with the back story…
When my business went virtual, I didn’t think I needed special tools at first. I’d send people a PDF proposal, a PDF contract to sign (that they’d usually download, print, sign, scan, then send back), and a PDF invoice. And I’d spend ages just crafting the perfect email to go with every document, for each lead or client.
Until I discovered Dubsado. It was an eye opener: I could have an online tool not just handle the admin, but lead my clients through the whole onboarding process with workflows and beautifully designed documents!
That being said, I didn’t enjoy working with Dubsado. I kept making different mistakes, it didn’t feel 100% smooth, and was pretty hard to personalise for individual clients.
That’s why I switched to 17hats: it had everything Dubsado didn’t have. I could still have email templates, but I’d get to personalise and add to each of them before sending. I’d still have semi-automated proposals, but I didn’t need to spend my time making them look good and adjusting all kinds of settings.
Sure, 17hats didn’t have half the features Dubsado had - but they were growing, adding new features all the time, so surely it’d become perfect over time. However, as none of the features I need had been addressed in the past 18 months, in December 2020 I decided to switch… but where to?
I saw dozens of comparison videos. Read through countless comparison articles. Signed up for a couple of trial accounts. I do realise different people need different features, and came up with a short(ish) list of features that are important(ish) to me.
The features I am looking for in a CRM:
My CRM has to be affordable.
The best-looking one of all is SuiteDash (ok, along with Sprout Studio and Honeybook) - but the package I’d need with SuiteDash is 99$ a month. I’m not willing to pay that at this time.
My CRM has to be easy to use - for me.
I really liked the idea of using Bitrix24 - but all the features (most of them I didn’t need) made it look terribly overwhelming.
Some CRM systems seem to completely disregard actions that could save us business owners a lot of time.
The ability to download all invoices in one go
Getting an easy one-click overview of clients (and even running projects)
There are probably more, but let’s stick with just “ease of use” for now.
My CRM has to be easy to use - for my clients.
They have to be able to accept my proposal, sign the agreement and pay the invoice in a matter of minutes. A client portal feature was on my “wouldn’t it be nice” list; most CRM systems will offer a client portal, most of them look horrible or are not customisable.
Lead Capture Forms.
When people fill out the questionnaire on my website, they can be added instantly to my CRM, and be able to schedule a call with me in one go. No need for me to do that manually and “get back to them within 24 hours”.
Proposal + Agreement + Invoice workflow
When I send someone a proposal, I want them to be able to pick what they need, submit the proposal, then sign the agreement and pay the invoice in a matter of minutes. After which, ideally, they’d receive an automated onboarding email: depending on what they signed up for, that could include a questionnaire, a scheduling link, or more information.
However, I also want the ability to send an invoice - quickly and easily - by selecting items from my list of products and services, applying it to a client, and send.
Email Templates
Sure, I like to send my clients a personalised email. But I also like to not spend too much time wondering what to write when I’m sending a recurring invoice, or how to structure my proposal email. Having template emails (that I can then customise, automate and integrate) saves SO much time.
Online Payments
I want to make it easy for my clients to pay. And to be honest: not all online payments are created equal. Fees and extra costs apply. I want clients to pay by either credit card, bank transfer, or Paypal.
Online Booking & Scheduling
This is a “would be nice” feature: I currently use Acuity to let leads and clients (and team members) schedule appointments with me in a matter of seconds… but it’d be nice if it were integrated with my CRM.
An extra difficulty with online booking and scheduling, as I work with clients from all over the world: some tools will only confirm the appointment in MY time zone. E.g. a client in Tennessee (7 hours behind Spain, where I live) would book an appointment at 10am (their time), and get a confirmation saying the meeting’s at 5 pm. A recipe for disaster. (there’s a way around that, by just not sending the client a confirmation or a reminder… but in my experience, that means showup rate drops!).
Coupon Codes or Discounts
I offer existing clients discounts on new packages. Sure, I can just create separate items for them - but wouldn’t it be nice if I could just give them a discount code and be done with it?
Task & Project Management
This was not actually on my list when I got started. However, as I went through different applications, I realised it would actually be super nice if I could have EVERYTHING in one place: client projects, tasks, messages with team members, everything. So I’ll be reviewing that at a certain point as well.
A Dashboard that Has It All
Know what I mean? The kind of dashboard where you log in and it’ll show you exactly how many leads or clients are waiting for something from you, how many invoices are awaiting payment, how much you’re off from your monthly target, what appointments you have that week, and what the latest client activity is.
7 Best CRM Tools for Coaches and Online Service Providers
(in alphabetical order. At this point, I haven’t picked a favourite yet).
17hats: Organize, systemize, and grow with 17hats.
17hats claims to be “the perfect business tool for solopreneurs”, and it kind of is. It’s simple and easy to use - I’ve been using it for 18 months and I absolutely love it. However, it’s missing a couple of features that I’d really like… so I’m looking around.
17hats’ main selling points are organisation (paperless paperwork), systemisation (creating workflows), and growth (get new clients with your new found clients).
Bloom: Where creatives run a profitable business
Bloom helps creatives get organised. Their main selling points: CRM, workflows and integrations with other tools.
Dubsado: do business differently
Dubsado wants to help you get more done with effortless communication, advanced automation, integrations, reporting, customisation and scheduling.
Iris Works: the virtual sidekick
Iris works is made for photographers, but has been recommended to me by, well, a non-photographer. It wants to help you get organised, save time, and grow your business. Main features: online bookings, easy lead workflows, automation, invoicing, and visuals that match your brand - and impress your clients.
Plutio: Everything you need to run your business
Plutio came highly recommended - it allows you to manage projects, track time, create proposals, get paid faster and more - all from one place.
Sprout Studio: studio management built by photographers, for photographers
Sprout Studio is by far the best-looking of all the tools I tried. As in - it dazzles your visitors even before they become clients. Again, it’s made for photographers - but it’s so customisable you don’t need to be a photographer to use it.
SuiteDash: all in one business software suite
SuiteDash is incredibly extensive and looks extremely customisable. Not a good thing if you’re looking for quick & simple - thankfully, I’m not. It offers whitelabel client portal, full CRM, as well as email marketing. It really looks all-in-one! Suitedash first got discarded as the top tier is a bit pricier - but then I realised I might not need the top tier after all, so I added it to this round of trials after all.
Now let’s move on to the actual trying and testing.
Feature Comparison
Feature #1: Lead Capture & Flow
Feature #2: Proposal-Agreement-Contract Workflow
Feature #3: Sending an Invoice
Feature #4: Sending Emails
Feature #5: Get Paid
Feature #6: Public Proposals
Feature #7: Client Portal
Pros and Cons of Different Small Business CRM Tools
17hats
Pros
Easy to use, quick setup
You can create templates - but you can customise them before they go out. E.g. have a standard email for sending with a proposal, but personalise it for each client.
Less accident-prone than some others
Pricing (yearly): $295
Cons
Scheduling tool only works in MY time zone
